National Treasure: Chasing Chase
by FantasyandHistory
Summary: Another 'National Treasure' story from me: Abigail's sister Alice is visiting from Germany and attends the gala, only to end up being taken by Ian and his crew in the search for the Templar Treasure. Abi teams up with Ben and Riley to try and track Alice down – what will ensue? A possible romance? And is there more to Ian than there seems? I do not own National Treasure.
1. Prologue

Hello and welcome to my other National Treasure story! :) I know I have a lot of stories on the go at the moment, but that's just how I work. I hope you enjoy this one! Thanks!

Prologue

 _Aboard the_ Charlotte _was where it all went wrong._

Damn it Ben _, Ian thought. Why couldn't he just cooperate, it would make this so much easier._

 _"_ _I really need your help here," he begged._

 _"_ _Ian, I'm not going to let you steal the Declaration of Independence," Ben stated firmly._

 _Ian sighed. He hadn't wanted it to come to this, but Ben left him with no choice. "Alright, from now on all you're going to be is a hindrance." He nodded to Shaw who pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ben._

 _"_ _Tell me what I need to know Ben," Ian demanded._

 _But he still hadn't budged, even when held at gunpoint. He remained strangely calm and composed. He was so stubborn. If only he knew what was at stake here, then maybe he would understand._

 _As they drove away in the snowmobiles watching the beautiful_ Charlotte _explode, Ian hoped that Ben and Riley had somehow made it out in time. Ben Gates was a smart man he knew, so he had probably figured out something._

Sorry Ben, but I have to do this. _He wasn't going to let anyone stand in his way, even if it meant stealing one of the most important documents in American history. If that was the next step to finding the treasure, he had to take it. And not even Ben Gates would stop him._

 **Really short I know but I just wanted to add it to set the scene. This story will mostly be focused on my character, Alice. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Abi and Ali

Hello, welcome to chapter one :) hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!

Chapter One

Abi and Ali

A very jetlagged Alice Chase got off the plane in Washington D.C. When she reached the luggage carousel she immediately picked a very excited familiar blonde out of the crowd.

"Ali!" she woman cried, rushing towards her.

"Abi!" Alice cried in response as the sisters rushed into each other's arms for a long hug.

"How are you?" Abi asked once they had pulled away from their hug. "How was the flight?"

"I'm good thanks, you? And it was good, long, but I read for most of the time." Alice held up the book that had kept her occupied during the flight. _American History_. Abi giggled.

"Yeah ha ha, very funny for the one who studied American history," Alice said with a roll of her eyes, returning her book to her carry-on bag. "You sound very American by the way."

"And you sound very German," Abigail replied. Sharing a laugh, the sisters hugged again.

It had been a year since the Chase sisters had seen each other in person. With Abigail living in America and Alice living in Germany they were far away, but they called and emailed often. Now, finally, they had been reunited, and as she was staying with her sister Alice could stay as long as she liked. She had arranged with her boss to work while she was away.

The sisters chatted rapidly on the drive from the airport. "So I was thinking we could go for lunch and then I can take you to my apartment and you can get settled in while I finish up at work. I just have something quick to finish up at the office before we go," Abi suggested. Alice agreed and Abi took them to her work building at the National Archives. Abi introduced her to everyone they met as she led her to her office. On the door there was a nameplate that read Dr. A. Chase.

"Very professional," commented Alice.

" _Danke_." Abi unlocked the door and they headed inside. Alice looked around at the neat, spacious office, with a nice view out the window. On a display rack by the door was a collection of George Washington's campaign buttons.

"Oh, you completed the collection," Alice said, viewing the now full display.

"Oh, yes." Abi smiled.

"Where did you find the last one?"

"I got it from someone who came to see me, a Mr. Paul Brown. He told me he had the last one, and sent it to me."

"Oh." Alice nodded.

"He came to me with the most ridiculous concern: that someone was going to steal the Declaration of Independence."

"Oh." Alice wrinkled her nose. "Doesn't that have the highest of security?"

"Pretty much. I thought, 'let them try.'"

"Why would someone try to steal it?" asked Alice thoughtfully. "I mean, besides the fact that it's the Declaration of Independence. And when they know how much is at stake for them?"

"Well, get this, he said it was because there's supposedly a treasure map on the back."

"A treasure map," cried Alice.

"An invisible one."

"Even better." Alice thought for a moment. "Do you think there really could be?"

"Well I've seen the back of it myself and no, I don't believe it, not for a moment."

"Wouldn't it be amazing though if there really was one?"

Abi smiled and shook her head. "Oh Alice, always dreaming up fantasies."

"Well wouldn't it be?"

Abi cleared some papers off her desk and nodded. "Yes it would. But it's very unlikely."

 _You didn't say impossible_ , thought Alice with a grin.

 _We all know how wrong you are, sorry Abi, but just you wait! Haha thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_


	3. The Declaration Itself

Hello welcome back! :) here's Chapter Two!

Chapter Two

The Declaration Itself

Abi was just packing up to leave for the day, Alice waiting for her, when the phone in her office rang.

"Abigail Chase." She listened for a few moments before saying "okay, I'll be right down," and hanging up. She turned to her sister, a grin on her face. "You want to see it?"

"See what?"

"The Declaration of Independence."

Abi led Alice downstairs to what she called the preservation room. Alice counted herself very lucky to be able to go to a place usually only accessed by people with high-level clearance. And she was about to see _the_ Declaration up close!

Abi typed in a password on a computer by the door and 'Access Granted' flashed up on the screen followed by the door opening. Abi addressed the people working inside and introduced Alice. "What have we got?"

"The heat sensor went off in the Declaration frame," answered one of the workers.

Abi nodded. "Run full diagnostics and then I want them all changed out."

"Will do, Doctor Chase."

Abi then noticed Alice, who was hanging back excitedly. She gave a little wave. "Go on."

Alice leaned over and peered through the glass frame. "Wow, it's beautiful."

"It is that," agreed Abi.

"It looks so fragile." Alice wondered if a single touch would cause it to disintegrate, as so appeared. She read the beautifully written words, loving how old-fashioned they sounded and wishing people still talked like that nowadays. It was so old that the words were almost too faded to read, but it was beautiful nonetheless. There was so much history right here on the page before her.

She almost asked to see the back of it, the question on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't. And didn't Abi say Mr. Brown had said that if there was a map, it would be invisible? It did sound kind of silly, Alice had to admit, but her creative side loved it. What a great story that would be! And if there really was a map, did that mean there was a treasure too? It sounded like something you would read in a book or see in a movie. Wouldn't it be amazing though, if it were real…

* * *

"Ooo your work is holding a fancy party." Alice inspected a National Archives Anniversary Gala brochure on the fridge while she and Abi cooked dinner later that evening.

"Yes." Abi didn't sound as excited. She had probably been to more than one Alice thought.

"Do you have a hot date to this gala?" Abi gave her a look while she only giggled.

"A couple of my colleagues asked me but I said I was already going with someone."

"Oh? Who?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes, I can take you as my guest."

"Oh, I didn't really bring anything very fancy, not fit for a gala."

"We'll find you something. Now hurry up and finish setting the table, dinner's almost ready."

Alice returned the brochure to its place on the fridge and continued setting the table. "Still bossy I see."

Abi raised her eyebrows, Alice sticking her tongue out in return. The two then dissolved into a fit of giggles, a pair of sisters reunited at last.

 _Next up, the gala! And we all know how that goes ;) thanks so much for reading! Bye for now!_


	4. The Gala

Hello welcome back! Now time for the gala and some excitement as we all know!

Chapter Three

The Gala

Alice had never been to such a fancy party before. She preferred more casual events, but decided that dressing up and going full-out every once in a while wasn't so bad.

She, with Abi's help of course, chose a royal blue floor-length short-sleeve dress for tonight, a charcoal grey shawl overtop and heeled black ankle boots. Her blonde hair, which was darker than Abi's (she'd always been a little jealous of her sister's fair hair) was in loose curls around her shoulders. She completed the look with light-coloured makeup, save the bright red lips she had insisted on, and some silver jewellery. She admitted only to herself that for a moment she felt like a little girl again playing dress up.

When the sisters arrived at the gala they were given champagne and Abi took her around introducing her to everyone. It seemed like all of Abi's male colleagues were flirting with her, Alice noticed.

They were standing near the centre of the room chatting when a man came up to them with champagne.

"Mr. Brown," said Abi, sounding surprised.

"Doctor Chase." He nodded. "For you." He handed one glass to her and one to Alice.

"What are you doing here?" asked Abi.

"Oh I made a last-minute donation," he explained.

"Oh well thank you. And on that subject thank you for your wonderful gift. I really couldn't accept something like that normally but I wanted it." She chuckled and then turned and addressed Alice. "Mr. Brown this is my sister, Alice. Alice, this is Paul Brown, the one who came to discuss the 'treasure map'".

Alice smiled at the man. "Nice to meet you Mr. Brown."

"Likewise, Miss Chase."

"Hi." They were joined then, interrupted more like judging by Abi's expression, by one of the colleagues who had been flirting with her earlier. She introduced him, Dr. Herbert, to Mr. Brown.

Dr. Herbert had obviously come over with a glass of champagne for Abi, and now saw that she already had one.

"Here," Mr. Brown said, noticing this too. "Let me take this so you can take that off his hands." He carefully took back the champagne he had given her, then raised his own glass. "A toast, yeah? To high treason." The three stared at him. "Well that is what these men were committing when they signed the Declaration," he said in answer to their stares. "Had they lost they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and oh, my personal favourite, had their entrails cut out and burned!" He chuckled. "So, here's to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right." He looked directly at Abi when he said the last part, before downing his whole glass of champagne in one gulp. "Well, good night." With that he gave them a nod and left.

After he left Abi then steered them away from Dr. Herbert, looking thoughtful.

"So that's the Paul Brown who gave you the last button in your collection," said Alice. "He seems like quite the character. He was definitely flirting with you." She received a nudge from Abi. "He's handsome." She giggled as Abi rolled her eyes and dragged her further into the crowd.

* * *

Following their meeting with Mr. Brown, Abi seemed distracted, lost deep in thought.

"Still struck by Mr. Brown," joked Alice.

Instead of answering Abi took her wrist and steered her through the crowd to the entrance hall and over to a woman holding a book. "Hey Rebecca, is there a 'Paul Brown' on your list?" she asked.

The woman scanned her list. "No, I don't see a 'Paul Brown'".

Abi nodded and thanked her, looking thoughtful again. Then her expression changed, as though she had seen someone, and she grabbed Alice by the wrist again and led her over to the staircase leading out of the building.

"Abi, where are we going?"

"Come on," was all her sister said.

When they exited the building and headed out into the night Abi scanned the dark road, a still-confused Alice following.

"Abi, what's this all about?" she asked.

"He came to me telling me that someone was going to steal the Declaration," Abi explained. "Then he shows up at the gala, acting strange, and he's not on the list. Something's not right here."

"You don't think–" Alice thought she was beginning to see what her sister was putting together. But that was absurd – he wouldn't actually try to steal the Declaration. Would he? And why warn Abi about it if he was going to? It didn't make any sense.

Speaking of… That was when she noticed Mr. Brown standing by a red van parked across the street. It looked like he was rummaging around in the back of the van. Abi stalked across the street towards him, Alice right on her heels.

"Hey," said Abi.

He appeared to jump a little. "Oh, it's you. Hello." He held what looked like a rolled up wall poster in his hands and was about to put it in the back of the van.

Abi ignored his politeness. "Mr. Brown what is going on here? What's that?" she nodded to the item in his hands.

"I-it's a souvenir," he said.

"Really?" Abi didn't sound convinced in the least.

"D-did you have a nice time at the party?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered lightly, brushing away his question.

Just then, they all jumped at the sudden blaring of an alarm coming from within the building, as well as flashing lights.

Mr. Brown exhaled a stressed sigh.

Abi turned on him, shaking her head in shock. "Oh my God, oh my God you did not–"

He looked like he was going to try and defend himself but Abi snatched the item – the Declaration – from his hands. "Give me that!"

"Take it, it's yours," he cried, before practically jumping into the van.

"Security! Over here!" Abi hollered. "Security!" She began running back towards the building, Alice in pursuit. It was all happening so fast she could barely comprehend it all – had he really just stolen the Declaration of Independence?

"Security!" Abi was still shouting. In the mad rush of everything the Declaration was transferred from Abi's hands to Alice's.

Suddenly the sisters were blinded by a light as a big catering truck pulled up and screeched to a halt in front of them. They froze in sudden shock as two men in dark clothes stepped out and approached them.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Abi asked as she and Alice stepped back away from them.

"Give us the document!" they shouted. When they were not obeyed they moved to grab it from Alice. "No! No let me go! AH!" She screamed as she heard nearby gunshots.

"Just bring her!" another man from inside the truck shouted.

"No!" shrieked Alice as they both grabbed her and half-pushed half-hauled her up into the truck. Abi tried to come to her sister's defence, but was shoved down to the ground hard by one of the men. With another screech of tires the truck, in which was Alice and the Declaration, sped off.

* * *

"Alice!" screamed Abi as she watched helplessly as the truck sped off down the street. That was when she noticed Mr. Brown's van was still across the street, moving to pull away. In a panic she quickly scrambled to her feet and ran over, waving her arms. "Stop – stop!"

The van screeched to a halt, she moving out of the way to avoid being hit. It had barely stopped before she pulled open the door and stepped inside.

"After them, go!" she shouted to the driver, who was the younger man who had come with Mr. Brown to her office the other day. "They have my sister, and the Declaration, go!"

He didn't need to be told twice. With that, they sped off after the truck.

 _You're probably wondering, how does Ian fit into all this? I promise that in the next chapter, you'll find out! ;) Haha thanks so much for reading, hope you're enjoying! And_ _I'm also writing another National Treasure story at the moment called 'Treasure Hunters' (original name I know :P) please check it out if you're interested!_


	5. Chasing Chase

Hello, welcome back to 'Chasing Chase' :) Thank you for the review! Now onto the chapter where the name of the story came from!

Chapter Four

Chasing Chase

Ian was surprised to say the least when he turned around to find not only the Declaration, but a young woman in fancy attire clutching the Declaration. A pretty young woman clutching the Declaration. A terrified, pretty young woman.

Her blue eyes were wide and her jaw agape and she was visibly shaking. Poor girl. Understandably though, for she had just been hauled into a truck by unfamiliar men in dark clothes.

"And who might you be?" he asked. She was too frightened to reply so he turned to the others. "Who is she?"

"She had the Declaration and wouldn't give it up, so we brought her," Shaw explained.

 _Idiots_ , Ian thought. Now she was involved in all this. Whoever she was.

He turned to her. "How about you pass me that document and we can all go home."

She still didn't say anything but, instead, her grip around the Declaration tightened and she shook her head determinately.

Suddenly, everyone practically went flying as the truck took a sharp turn. Pots and pans clattered to the floor as well as take-out containers. Moments later, anything that was left hanging fell from its spot as there was a _crash!_ as the truck must have hit a bump for it began bouncing up and down. Alice gripped the Declaration in one hand and the counter surface in the other, trying not to lose her balance.

When at last the truck stopped bouncing and everyone else was recovering, Alice made for the door. She turned the lever, but just as she was pushing it open they took another turn, this one not as sharp but sharp enough to send the door swinging open, she hanging on for dear life.

"Oh God," sighed Ian as he watched the girl dangling from the open door, screaming, Ben still pursuing them closely.

From the pursuing van, Abigail let out a scream as she watched the back door of the truck swing open sharply, her sister hanging off of it, the Declaration still gripped tightly in her hand.

Shaw roughly pushed past Ian, gun in hand, firing shot after shot after the van, this only making the girl scream louder.

"No!" Ian shouted, grabbing Shaw's arm to stop him from shooting. "She falls, the document falls!" They couldn't risk compromising the map, not now when they were so close.

The pursuing van pulled up next to them then, the back door sliding open with Abigail reaching out of it. "Alice!" she called to her sister. "Grab my hand!"

Now holding both the Declaration and the truck door in one hand, Alice reached out towards her sister. Their hands were almost touching when the truck took yet another sharp turn away from those in pursuit, causing the door to swing inwards along with Alice. _These guys are really horrible drivers_.

"No!" screamed Abigail.

As the door swung back inwards, Ian stepped forward and snatched the document from Alice's hand. "Thank you."

"No!" she shrieked, reaching back out for it, though gripped the door as it began to swing outward again.

"Got it!" he cried, his face lighting up with a smile of victory and relief. "Go on – oof!" He was suddenly pushed forward as the door swung in again, throwing the girl against him from behind. He stumbled forward while she collapsed in a shaking heap to the floor, muttering softly in German. Ian nodded to Shaw who began shooting at the pursuing van again, continuing to shoot until the van took a sharp turn away from them, ending the chase.

"We lost them."

"Good," said Ian.

"But what about Gates?"

"No need to worry about him," Ian said confidently. "We have all we need right here." He grinned as he took the document and unrolled it – immediately noticing that something was off. One, the finish was much too shiny for a document of over 200 years old, and there was a white border around it, like a poster. This was all confirmed by the $35 price sticker in the corner.

Ian gritted his teeth, rage surging through him. "Well done Gates. Well done." He crumpled the fake document and slammed his hands down onto the counter with an angered yell.

 _Yay, now Ian and Alice have finally met! :) I'm really excited about developing their relationship, I think there will be some good moments between them! As always, thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed!_


	6. Lunatics!

Hello there and welcome back! Here's another chapter for you, hope you enjoy!

Chapter Five

Lunatics!

"Lunatics! You're all lunatics!" cried Abigail. She had just finished reprimanding the driver for turning onto another road, thus losing Alice and the Declaration.

"They were shooting at us!" he'd cried. "I'd like not to die, thank you."

"Could you please stop shouting," Mr. Brown was now saying. "Now are you hurt? Are you alright?" He'd just finished explaining that he

"No I'm not alright! Those men have my sister and the Declaration!"

"No, they don't have the Declaration, it's right here, see." Mr. Brown shook the case.

"Who were those men?" she demanded.

"Only the ones who we warned you were going to try and steal the Declaration."

"And you didn't believe us," added the driver.

"Give it to me!" She reached out for it but Mr. Brown snatched it away.

"Again with the shouting."

" _Verdammt_! Give me that!"

"I'm pretty sure she's swearing now too," commented Riley.

"Yeah well, we probably deserve that."

"I want that document Mr. Brown."

"Okay, my name's not Brown, it's Gates. Ben Gates. And this is Riley, my friend."

"Gates? Did you just say Gates? You're that family that has the conspiracy theory about the Founding Fathers."

"It's not a conspiracy theory," he stated firmly. Then he turned to Riley. "Take a right up here."

"We can't just bring her along," Riley said.

"I'm not going anywhere until I get my sister back safely," she stated firmly.

Ben and Riley exchanged a glance. "You heard her," Ben said.

A few minutes later they pulled into a neighbourhood, stopping in front of a fairly large house with a spacious front yard.

"Park a couple of blocks away," Ben instructed.

"Now what are we doing?" Abigail sighed heavily. "How is this helping my sister?"

"Listen, I promise you we will get your sister back unharmed," Ben said.

She looked at him curiously. "How do I know I can trust you, Mr. Brown?" she added.

Right. After that whole scene. "When I was a kid I made a promise to my granddad that I would find the treasure. Now, thirty years later I'm still searching," he said, hoping it would do the trick.

She thought for a moment, considering. Finally she sighed. "Fine. Let's go then."

* * *

"You're all lunatics!" yelled the young woman. She had a thick accent which Ian identified as German. He'd heard her muttering in German as well.

"Just shut up!" yelled Shaw.

"Shaw!" barked Ian.

"Well you weren't the one who was abducted and hanging off the door of a moving truck just moments ago, were you!" she shouted back, sounding close to tears.

Ian wasn't paying much attention to her however, or tried not to, instead racking his brain for what to do now that they still did not have the map. After crumpling the fake map and giving an angered shout, he went to practically tearing his hair out. He'd been so close, so close, and now it felt as though he had been thrown back to the very beginning. And he didn't have time to start over.

Meanwhile, a panicking Alice searched around frantically for anything that could be used as a weapon of defence, which happened to be a nearby soup pot. She grabbed it and held it with both hands over her shoulder, ready to swing. It wasn't very heavy, but she figured that with enough force behind it, it could do some serious damage.

"Alright," she said, gripping the handle of the pot tightly, hoping that the shaking of her hands wasn't overly obvious. "Now you just heard it for yourself, I can scream. Just thought I would forewarn you."

The men stared at her and then the sandy-haired one chuckled. Then he reached into one of the bags and withdrew a roll of duct tape. "You were saying Love?"

That shut her up.

The men began discussing what to do next, now that they obviously had not gotten what they came for and ended up with something else, while she sank to the floor and sat in the corner. The sandy-haired one, who seemed to be in charge to some degree, looked very stressed. She heard the word 'Gates' mentioned a lot, and realized that it was a name.

Seeing as they were all distracted, she moved for the door again, now that they had slowed down some. Out of the corner of his eye Ian saw this. He quickly caught on and swiftly moved ahead of her, slamming his hand against the door, making her jump, holding the door closed. "Ah ah ah, you know what happened last time." Again, she sunk back, defeated.

"Now what are we going to do?" demanded Shaw.

"I don't know!" Ian cried.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!" cried Alice from her corner.

They all turned to look at her, as if remembering her presence.

"Have you heard of the Templar Treasure?" the blond asked her.

"Ian," Shaw began to protest, but the blond held up a hand to silence him.

"The Templar Treasure?" repeated Alice. "The treasure of–"

"–Of all treasures," he finished. "Yes."

She nodded slowly. "I've heard of it. It was originally in Europe, wasn't it? Or at least it was at some point. That is, if it's real."

"Oh it's real," he said with determination.

"How do you know?"

"Because we've found clues leading to it."

Alice sat back, taking in this information. "Is that why you tried to steal the Declaration?"

 _Smart girl._ "Yes. It is the next clue."

"So this is all just some big treasure hunt?" she cried. She sighed heavily and leaned back against the side of the truck. "Really?!" _Guess Mr. Brown was right, or Gates, or whoever he is._ As cool and exciting as that was, she had just been abducted and almost died because of it, and what if the legend of the treasure was just that, legend? And now she was caught up in this huge crime scene, with, just her luck, the criminals.

"It's evident you're not from here," the blond said suddenly.

She looked up at him. "Neither are you," she stated in response to his English accent.

He chuckled. "Not originally, no. What brings you here?"

"I am visiting my sister, she lives here. She works at the National Archives, that's why I was at the gala."

"What's your name?"

Should she lie? No, she decided, that would only complicate things more. "Alice Chase." Then she added, "You may call me Doctor Chase."

He chuckled at this. "Doctor?"

"Yes, I am a museum curator in Berlin."

"A history museum?"

"Yes." She thought she knew where this was going. "European history. So sorry, if you were thinking I could help you with your little treasure hunt. One, I know very little about American history, besides what I read on my way here to try and keep up with my sister. And two, I'm not going to help you–" She trailed off, hoping that it would prompt him to introduce himself and the others. It didn't however. "And even if I did help you I wouldn't be much help."

"Well, you knew the importance of this document, so I'd say you know enough."

 _A real-life treasure hunt… How cool is that!? No, stay focused_. Here she was, abducted by crazy treasure hunters – with guns! She had to get out of here.

The door was once again clear, she noticed, no one guarding it. The truck had slowed some, and her captors were otherwise distracted… It was now or never.

In a moment she had leapt to her feet and dashed to the door.

"Hey!"

"Stop!"

But she barely heard the shouts over the thundering of her own heartbeat in her ears as she threw open the door.

She wasn't sure if the shouted 'stop!' had been for her or the driver; maybe it was for both. But the driver evidently thought it had been for him for he slammed on the breaks, this causing her to fall out the back, sending her rolling across the pavement. She felt a searing heat as the road scraped her arms as she fell.

That was all she remembered, lying there in the middle of the cold street, pain shooting up her arm and side of her face, the shouting of her captors slowly fading away.

 _So there won't be much from Abi, Ben, and Riley's side of the story, because this is mostly focused on Alice and Ian, but I just wanted to add that part in to show how determined Abi is to get her sister back, and her frustration about having to find the treasure taking priority for Ben and Riley. Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Thanks so much for reading! :)_


	7. Captive

Hello, welcome back! Now where were we... Alice just tried to escape again and fell out of the truck and lost consciousness. Here's what happens next! Enjoy!

Chapter Six

Captive

When her eyes fluttered open the first thing Alice saw was a white ceiling. No, that wasn't right. Her room at Abi's had a beige-coloured ceiling.

Suddenly, a tall man in a black leather jacket appeared, standing over her, looking down at her. Alice's eyes shot open and a shrill scream escaped her lips.

"Shhh!" cried the man, putting a hand over her mouth.

She squirmed and shoved him away. Before she could ask anything, the blond man who had done most of the talking in the truck, entered the room.

"Phil, what did you do?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" cried the younger man, Phil. "I was just watching over her, as instructed." _Creepy_.  
"She's awake now."

"Yes, I can see that."

"Where the hell am I?!" Alice cried. She snatched up a pillow from beside her on the couch, gripping it tightly and ready to throw it if necessary.

"We're at a hotel," the blond answered.

"Where?"

"Still in D.C."

"What happened?"

"How much do you remember?"

"Falling out of the truck…" It was as if her memory of it triggered the pain. She looked all the way down her arm at a long scrape and road rash. It felt like she had scraped the side of her head too.

"You fell unconscious after that," he explained. "So we brought you up here and laid you on the couch there to rest."

 _How did they carry me all the way into a hotel room without seeming suspicious?_ Now that he mentioned it, she seemed to recall a vague memory of being pressed up against someone's chest, carried bridal-style, but the memory was fuzzy. However, she was pretty sure it had been him. She shuddered. Then she scoffed and shook her head. "Who are you?"

He smiled a little. "Ian Howe."

She regarded him through narrowed eyes. "Is that your real name?"

He chuckled. Then he took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Yes." She yanked her hand away.

The other men filed into the room then.

"Phil you've already met," Ian said, nodding to where Phil stood.

He smiled and gave a little wave. "Phil McGregor."

"Victor and Powell," continued Ian, nodding to two other men who now sat across from them on the opposite couch. They nodded at her.

The bald, grumpy-looking man who had been shooting answered merely, "Shaw."

"And that's Shaw," said Ian. "There, Miss Chase, now you know the crew."

The men seemed to forget about her after that, Ian sitting down on the couch with a pen and pad of paper while the other four unloaded their bags of supplies for the robbery. So Alice went and plopped herself in a chair in the corner, glad to get off her feet. Her boots were squeezing her feet. She would probably have blisters.

Because she had nothing better to do she watched Ian as he scribbled something down on the notepad, while the others, when they were done unloading, came and sat around him. He looked extremely concentrated and thoughtful.

She jumped then when she felt something brush against her arm.

"Sorry," said Phil. He had appeared at her side. He brushed his finger against the rash on her arm. He winced. "You probably want to get that cleaned up." She slapped his hand away. "We have a first-aid kit somewhere around here." He began rifling through the bags. He came back moments later with some disinfectant wipes. She took one from him and tore it open, wiping her arm. She winced at the stinging.

Ian was still scribbling away, looking more and more frustrated by the minute. The others obviously noticed this too.

"Ian," said Shaw gently. "We're all very tired, and it's really late. Maybe it would be best to get some rest and get a fresh start in the morning."

"But we don't have that much time!" Ian cried. Then he looked apologetically at his friend. "No, maybe you're right." He set down the notepad and pen and rubbed his hands over his tired face. "We'll figure this out in the morning. Good work tonight gentlemen."

Alice yawned. She could feel herself fading rapidly. She had a strange dream that night, of car chases, fancy parties, and treasure.

 _So I updated/changed some things in this chapter, as you may notice, as well as the next chapter. So if you've already read these chapters you may want to re-read them to see the changes, and if you haven't gotten to those chapters yet then no need to worry :) thanks, sorry for the confusion!_


	8. Next Stop: Philadelphia

Welcome back :) here's another chapter for you! Again, sorry for all the changes and any confusion!

Chapter Seven

Next Stop: Philadelphia

The next morning Alice awoke to a knocking at the door. It was probably Abi, saying she was on her way to work. Alice groaned.

"Rise and shine, Doctor Chase," came a voice that was most definitely not Abi's, a female voice with a mixed German-American accent. This voice was a male's, deep, and with an English accent.

Alice's eyes shot open, finding herself in the bedroom of the hotel room. _Wunderbar_. Right, she had been abducted.

She recalled crashing on the bed, exhausted from the crazy happenings since the gala, and didn't remember much after that. She still felt tired, but much less so.

Thankfully they had not made another venture late last night, and had instead rested up to figure out what to do next.

"May I come in? Are you decent?" It was Ian.

She groaned sleepily again and sat up. _I feel like a zombie princess –_ she was still half-asleep and still in her fancy gala attire. "Just a minute." At least he had the decency to knock instead of just barging right in.

She sauntered sleepily over to the door and opened it, squinting into the light from the hall and up into the face of her captor. The handsome face of her captor…

He stood there smiling. "Good morning." He sounded tired.

Good morning indeed. " _Guten Morgen_."

"How did you sleep?"

She answered with a brief shrug. Then she said, "what time is it?"

"Just after eleven, we all slept in." Ian then held something out to her – folded clothes. "I sent Powell and Phil out this morning to get you these. I hope they fit – they had to guess on your size."

She took the clothes. A pair of jeans, a simple white shirt, and a grey cardigan. Looks like she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, except with them.

"You may use the shower, if you like, and there's some coffee and breakfast in the kitchen when you're ready. We'll be in the living room if you need anything."

 _Why are you being so nice?_ Something wasn't adding up here.

He left and Alice tip-toed down the hall to the bathroom with the clothes and locked herself inside – she could hear the men's muffled voices from out in the other room. She removed her dress, which was dirty and probably ruined, and had a quick shower, careful of her rash as it was still sore. When she was finished she dried herself and her hair and changed into her new clothes. The shirt was loose-fitting, though not enough to look too big, and the cardigan fit well, but she could barely get the jeans buttoned up. She put on her heeled ankle boots again.

When she emerged from the bathroom she hesitantly made her way to the kitchen, soon realizing she would have to pass through the living room full of crazy, treasure-hunting men on the way.

She was contemplating just locking herself back in the bedroom when the tall younger man, Phil, noticed her. "Hi." He gave her a small smile and wave.

This turned everyone else's attention towards her. They were all sitting on the couches, Ian with a pen and pad of paper. A couple muttered 'morning'. Shaw just scowled. Alice got the feeling that he wasn't a fan of her. He probably saw her as a burden they now had to lug around. _It's not like I wanted to get thrown into this hunt, not like I wanted to be abducted by all you lunatics._ Overall, she got the best impressions from Ian and Phil.

"They fit," Ian said, speaking of her new clothes, looking up from the notepad.

"The shirt and sweater are fine, but the pants – you must have gotten the smallest size, I can hardly breathe. I'm not that skinny." Then she held up a foot. "And these boots have lost their comfort."

"Here, tell you what: after you get something to eat Phil and Powell will take you to the store to get something else, while we try and figure this out," Ian suggested.

At this, Shaw gave a dramatic sigh, as if this were a huge inconvenience.

"I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be," she told him, on her way passing through to the kitchen.

Ian turned to Shaw, giving him a scolding look. "I thought we should include you instead of just have you as a prisoner, as you put it," he said, turning back to Alice.

"Thank you," she said sarcastically. That still didn't solve the problem of her being abducted by them. She was still here, in their company. "That still doesn't change the fact that I'm a captive."

"'Guest' is more the way I'd put it."

"Whatever." She gave a roll of her eyes and stalked into the kitchen. She was starved – hopefully after eating something she could try and think straight and figure something out. An escape maybe.

Ian had been very generous by saying 'breakfast' awaited her in the kitchen. All she could find was an apple and a slice of bread with butter. But it was better than nothing.

Just as promised, once she was finished eating, Ian sent her with Powell and Phil to get some new clothes. Although this made her groan, she was just thankful he hadn't chosen to send Shaw along.

They drove for about fifteen minutes in silence before Phil pulled into the parking lot of a department store. Alice was slightly considering making a run for it and losing them in the store, but realized that would just make a scene and besides, even if she did manage to escape, she was alone in an unfamiliar place. And, she realized, she couldn't make any calls because she'd left her cellphone in her clutch which she'd checked at the coat check at the gala. She'd thought she'd be going back for it.

So she, Phil, and Powell headed into the department store and found the women's section. While they looked completely lost Alice led the way through the clothing racks and found the sale section and rifled through the jeans. Maybe she should go buy some high-end clothes with her captors' money, she thought with an evil grin. The two men followed close by, keeping an eye on her, though not close enough to be suspicious – hopefully.

After finding her size she disappeared into a fitting room. It was a relief to change out of the current jeans and into the new pair – she could actually breathe in these, that was important. And they were stretchy and comfortable. When she got up to the cashier the woman behind the counter told her that it was buy one get one half-off for the jeans and since she didn't know how long they would be on the road, she got two pairs of jeans and another shirt. Lastly she settled on a comfortable pair of lace-up boots with less of a heel. With all the shopping done they returned to the car and headed back to the hotel.

When they arrived back at the room Alice took a seat back in her corner. The others were still working away.

Ian scribbled something down then and then held up the notepad facing them. "Gentlemen, why is this word capitalized?" he asked, pointing to the word 'Silence'. By the way he asked Alice could tell he already knew the answer.

There was silence, no pun intended. "Uh," one of the men finally said, Viktor Alice was pretty sure it was. "Because it's important?"

 _Idiots_. By the look on his face, Ian was obviously thinking the same as her. "Why are words usually capitalized?" he asked, trying again.

Silence again. She couldn't tell if they were actually this stupid or if they just didn't want to answer. She sighed from her corner. "Well it's obviously not because it's at the start of the sentence, because it's in the middle of the sentence. It could be a title, or a name–"

"Ah ha." Ian cut her off and pointed at her. "Very good Miss Chase – oh, forgive me, _Doctor_ Chase," he added mockingly before turning back to the riddle. "Because it's a name."

The men sat quietly, blinking, absorbing this. "Who has the name 'Silence'?" asked Powell.

"It's a false name," Ian explained. "Silence Dogood. Phil, laptop." Phil handed him his laptop and the group, including Alice, crowded around Ian as he typed something in an internet search: _Silence Dogood Letters_. When he found what he was looking for he shut the laptop and stood promptly, addressing the group. "I know where we need to go next."

"Where?" asked Alice. Then she added, "Or is that classified too?"

At this, he chuckled. "Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute."

"Do we leave right away?" asked Viktor.

"What time is it open till?"

"Website said five o'clock," said Ian. "What time is it now?"

"Almost three," answered Phil. "How long is the drive?"

"About three hours," answered Shaw. "By the time we get all packed up here, and even if we drove without making any stops, we wouldn't make it."

"Damn!" sighed Ian. "We missed it."

"It's alright Ian," Shaw said, placing a supportive hand on his friend's shoulder. "We'll get all packed up tonight and leave first-thing in the morning." He seemed to be reassuring Ian a lot, Alice had noticed. She wondered why.

Ian agreed and with that the group disbanded. All except for Shaw. "What about the girl?" he asked. Both he and Ian turned to look at her. "I say we leave her here. We can't just bring her along."

"We can't just leave her on her own," disagreed Ian. "Besides, she's seen too much."

Alice sighed. The classic 'they've seen too much' line.

Ian regarded her. "And perhaps we can use her to persuade Gates: trade her for the real Declaration."

Great. Now she was a token of ransom. Just great.

"But she doesn't mean anything to him."

"But you saw it, her sister was with him."

"Who is this 'Gates'?" Alice finally asked. They were sure talking a lot about him. Also, she didn't like them discussing her as if she wasn't there.

"Ben Gates. He's been searching for the treasure his whole life, his family has a connection to it. They've been mocked for years about it, and he wants to prove them right," Ian explained while Shaw just looked annoyed.

She nodded. "And why do you want it? Besides finding treasure of course."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other.

"Afraid that's classified," Ian said.

Alice sighed. _Of course it is._

 _Sorry Alice, you're stuck with them! At least for a little while... Maybe it won't turn out to be such a bad thing ;) haha thanks so much for reading! Bye for now!_


	9. Next Stop: The Franklin Institute

Hello! Here's chapter eight!

Chapter Eight

Next Stop: The Franklin Institute

Phil had noticed a pizza place around the corner from the hotel, so they ordered in to their room for dinner while they prepared for their trip the following day.

As she was on her way to bed, Alice noticed Ian sitting by himself on the couch, staring down at a photograph in his hand. She couldn't make out what the photograph was of, but he was smiling down fondly at it. This made her curious.

The next morning the group awoke and prepared to set off.

"So what are we going to do about the girl?"asked Shaw. "I still say we leave her."

"Now now Shaw," said Ian, looking at Alice. "That's no way to treat our guest."

When she reached the kitchen this time she found an open box of assorted doughnuts and pastries. She chuckled at her captors' choice in breakfast as she took a doughnut with colourful sprinkles adorning it.

Just as she was stuffing a rather large bite into her mouth, she turned around to find Ian standing there behind her. She jumped, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk's. She chewed and swallowed her large bite.

"Here." He held out a book to her, one on American history. "To keep you busy during the car ride."

"Very funny," she sneered, yanking the book from his hands.

They packed up and checked out soon after that, she having very little to take with her.

"So who is this 'Silence Dogood' person?" Alice asked as they piled into a black SUV, a welcome change from the catering truck. However, she was squished in the middle between Phil and Powell.

"Benjamin Franklin," Ian explained.

"Oh." Well that sure cleared things up.

"He wrote several letters to his brother's newspaper, writing as a middle-aged widow, Silence Dogood," he continued.

"And they're in Philadelphia." she put together.

"Yes, at the Franklin Institute," answered Ian. "That is where the letters are on display."

Great. Now not only had she been abducted, but was now leaving D.C. altogether. But, a glimmer of hope rose within her, Abi was with the other treasure hunter, Ben Gates. Maybe they had stayed together and if he was after the same treasure as Ian and crew was, as it so seemed, maybe they would cross paths. She could only hope.

"I really don't think you should be telling her so much," she caught Shaw say to Ian.

"She's a smart girl, she'll figure it out anyway," was his reply.

"Ian, what about Gates?" asked Powell.

"We'll worry about that later," Ian replied. "Right now our priority is finding the clues, and then the treasure." He then turned to Shaw who was in the driver's seat. "Now drive."

* * *

They drove halfway to Philadelphia before taking a break to stretch their legs and get something to eat: burgers and fries. Doughnuts for breakfast, pizza for dinner, and burgers for lunch. Alice chuckled.

They ate while they drove. Alice reached up to the cup holder between the two front seats where they'd put the fries and grabbed one.

"Hey," said Ian. "Don't you have your own bag back there?"

"We did," Alice replied, stuffing the fry in her mouth. "But Phil ate them all."

"I did not!" cried Phil.

"Here." Next thing she knew, Ian threw a fry at her and it landed in her lap.

"Hey!" she cried, giggling. Must have been from the lack of sleep. "You just got fry grease all over my new jeans."

"Oh I'm sorry," he joked.

"Oh well, you paid for it," she joked back. Look at that, she was joking with her abductors.

She spent the rest of the drive looking out the window at the scenery and reading her book. When she looked up she found Ian looking at her through the rear-view mirror. They met eyes for a moment before she buried her nose back in her book to hide her flushing cheeks. Why was she blushing?

When they arrived in Philadelphia Alice was immediately drawn by its charm. This was certainly a place she would like to visit, you know, when she wasn't a prisoner on a treasure hunt.

They headed straight for the Franklin Institute. _In Honor of Benjamin Franklin_ was carved into the outside of the building. Ian had decided to dress up a little and wore a deep blue suit. Alice liked it, she thought it looked good, with a couple of the top buttons of his shirt undone, and the colour really brought out his eyes. She blinked – wait, what? What was up with her today? She blamed it on the lack of sleep.

As the group headed into the building a young boy in school uniform passed them, weaving past. He bumped Ian on the way by. "Oh, sorry sir, excuse me."

"It's okay," Ian said, giving the boy a smile.

When they entered the building Alice started in awe about the room. She loved the feeling she got when she was in a place so steeped in history.

So lost in her admiration she hadn't realized the group had moved on without her. Ian must have noticed though for he stopped and waited as she jogged to catch up.

"Thought you might have tried to escape," he said.

"I'm curious," she answered. It was true, she was, and had been ever since Abi had told her about Mr. Brown, really Mr. Gates's, claim of the invisible treasure map. Now, here she was, hunting for that very treasure, said to be 'the treasure of all treasures'. And, she realized, while she may be a prisoner on this hunt, she wasn't being treated as poorly as she could have been. She was a 'guest' as Ian had put it, more so than a prisoner, and for this she was thankful. Still, this treasure had better be real, otherwise she would have been abducted and dragged around and gotten her hopes up for nothing.

They now stood before a display case which held the Silence Dogood Letters.

"So," Alice said, breaking the silence after they had been standing there for a while. "What are we looking for?"

"I don't know," Ian admitted.

Great, just great. " _Gut_ ," she mumbled in German.

A few minutes later the little boy who had passed them earlier came and stood before the letters too, his face inches from the glass. Ian smiled down at him, stepping aside to let him have a better view. Alice watched and as she did she got the feeling that Ian was fond of kids, and also that perhaps he was good with them. She found herself smiling a little with this realization.

She went back to inspecting the letters herself, reading each one carefully. It was hard to find something that could be a clue if you didn't even know what it was you were looking for.

That was when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the boy staring intently at one of the letters, and it looked as though he was counting. She looked over at Ian who must have noticed this too and they exchanged a confused glance. Once he was finished counting the boy scribbled something down onto the small notepad he had with him and hurried off, heading for the main entrance of the building. Ian stood there looking thoughtful for a moment before turning and walking after him.

Alice followed. "What are you doing?!" she hissed. "Stalking kids now?" It got worse when Ian started jogging to catch up to the boy, Powell, Phil, Viktor, and Shaw joining them.

They exited the building to find the boy across the street, obviously looking for something.

"What's going on?" Shaw asked.

"I don't know," Ian said. Then he crossed the street towards the boy, the others following, Alice reluctantly.

"Hello," Ian called as he approached the boy with a smile. "Have you lost something?"

"I was helping someone," the boy replied. "He needed me to get something for him. He still owes me a dollar."

Ian chuckled. "That would be my friend. If you could help us, we'd most appreciate it." He knelt down and pulled a hundred dollar bill from his wallet, handing it to the boy; Alice felt her eyes grow wide. The boy practically snatched it up and inspected it. "Is this real?"

"Just tell me what you told my friend."

This was getting worse and worse. Any thought she had that Ian was good with kids had now been dashed away.

"Just a bunch of letters. I can't remember."

"Can you remember the ones you were going to tell him next?" Ian pressed, giving the boy a warm and friendly-looking smile.

 _Don't do it_! Alice wanted to tell the boy. _Get out of here kid!_

"Yeah here." The boy handed him the page from his notepad he had written on. "S-T-O-W."

Ian grinned. "Thank you very much."

Alice shook her head.

After leaving the boy who was still staring in awe at the hundred dollar bill, they headed back to the car where they got out Phil's laptop to try and find some connections.

S-T-O-W. Stow. Why did that sound so familiar? While they crowded around the laptop Alice reached into the back seat where the book on American history from Ian was and flipped back a few pages from where she had left off. This section was about the Liberty Bell and John Pass and John Stow who cast the bell. John Pass and John Stow. Stow…

"Pass and Stow," she mumbled.

"What?" Now all eyes were on her.

"I just read about John Pass and John Stow casting the Liberty Bell," she said, holding up the book. "So maybe S-T-O-W refers to that. Maybe it's a name too, like 'Silence' was."

"Top results, Liberty Bell at Independence Hall," Powell announced of their internet search.

Ian grinned broadly. "Well done Miss Chase."

"Well you gave me the book, so…"

"Well you figured it out." He patted her on the shoulder. "Okay, let's go!"

 _Thoughts? I always love to hear your feedback! In case you didn't see my message from earlier, I updated chapters six and seven, so you may just want to go back and check those out - sorry again for all the changes and confusion. I think I've got it all sorted out now! Also please let me know what you think of my character :) thanks so much!_


	10. Next Stop: Independence Hall

Hello, sorry for the delay! Here's another chapter for you!

Chapter Nine

Next Stop: Independence Hall

During the drive to Independence Hall Alice noticed Ian looking at the same photograph he had been looking at the previous night. Now she could see it better: it was of a pretty young woman who looked around Abi's age, and a little girl, unmistakably her daughter. They both had the same smile and blonde hair. He smiled fondly down at it. Alice felt herself growing very curious. A wife and daughter perhaps? This was her first thought. He was staring down at their smiling faces very lovingly. She glanced down at his hand: no wedding ring. But he could have taken it off… The irony of taking off something valuable so you don't lose it while stealing something else valuable.

Her thoughts were interrupted then when the car pulled to a stop. They had reached Independence Hall. When he realized they were pulling up in front of the hall Ian quickly slipped the photograph back into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

It was a beautiful day, and Alice wished she could take a look around. But they weren't here to wander leisurely and admire the sights and take in all the history.

Ian walked a little bit ahead of the group as they entered the building – he was the leader after all. She caught up with him.

"Do you have a wife and daughter?" she asked softly, trying to sound casual as they entered the hall and looked around at the artifacts it housed. Was that a hint of jealousy she sensed in her own tone? She hoped he wouldn't catch onto it. That is, if it even was jealousy. Which it wasn't… Why in the world would she be jealous? It made no sense. Okay, yes, she admitted, but only to herself, she thought Ian was handsome, but that was all. She wouldn't really be surprised if he was married and had a child, for although he was a criminal, she thought that he was overall a good guy. He had been good to her at least.

That was when she realized he was looking at her, slightly confused. "I saw you looking at a photograph of a woman and little girl." _What do they think about your occupation?_ she wanted to ask, but thought it better to hold her tongue.

"Oh." He chuckled, smiling. "No. That's my sister and her daughter, my niece."

"Oh." Now she felt embarrassed and felt her cheeks grow hot. Embarrassed mixed with something else – relief?

"That photograph was from a few years ago, my niece is nine now. About the same age as the boy from the Franklin Institute looked. My sister and I were very close, and she was a single mother so I helped her out a lot."

Alice was becoming increasingly curious, as well as more and more certain that Ian was overall a good guy. "Were?"

His face fell. "She died last year, left her daughter in my care. I'm her legal guardian now."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She'd been expecting something along the lines of they'd had a disagreement which had drawn them apart. He gave her a small smile of thanks. "Where is she now, your niece?"

"Back in England, living with her nanny while I'm away on – business..."

To this, Alice raised her eyebrows. She guessed that Ian's niece didn't know exactly what her uncle did for a living.

"I haven't seen her for a while now. Have to finish this hunt first…" His words trailed off. He sounded nervous.

A thought occurred to her then – what if this whole 'bad-guy' thing was all just for show, when really – in Ian's case at least, she wasn't sure about the others just yet – they were being set up? Forced to do this? Threatened even? It happened that way in movies, books, and television shows sometimes, where the 'villain' character or characters seemed just all bad at the start, but then as you learned more about them you learned maybe they're not just all bad at all. This made it more human, more so than just being all good or all bad. But then again, sometimes these sorts of characters were just that, the 'all bad', all bad and nothing else. She hoped she was stuck with the first.

They found a tour to join, Ian and the others pushing past the other people in the tour to get to the front. Alice, now stuck at the back alone, and small, stood up on her toes to try and see over their heads. Phil noticed her, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her through.

"Sorry, sorry," she whispered to the people she had to push past. She stepped ahead of Ian and Shaw.

"Ah, there you are," said Ian. "Thought you might have tried to escape again."

"No, you just left me at the back by myself."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." To this, she caught him smile.

Before them sat the Liberty Bell. Alice was instantly mesmerized by it, and started to listen to what the tour guide was saying.

"Idiot," Ian suddenly muttered.

"Who?" asked Shaw.

"Me."

"Oh, good, now we finally agree on something," mumbled Alice.

"It's not here, it's there." Ian nodded to through the window and across the street to where what the guide called the Independence Hall steeple stood. Ian once again in the lead, they cut back through the crowd, leaving the tour.

"Alright Phil, Powell, Viktor, you wait for us outside. Shaw, Chase, with me."

"Are you sure about that, Ian?" questioned Shaw.

"Yes Shaw," sighed Ian, obviously getting sick and tired of Shaw always questioning his judgment about her. She was too. "Now let's go."

The group stayed together until they got outside where they split up, heading their separate ways just as Ian had instructed. Ian led the way through the building and then over to a set of stairs that had been blocked off. He stepped over the rope and started up them.

"It says 'No Admittance'," Alice started to protest, but then realized she was arguing with a criminal. She sighed and followed him, Shaw giving her a little push forward. She threw a glare over her shoulder at him and swung her short legs over the rope, not realizing her back foot got caught until she stumbled forward – right into Ian's arms.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Mind your step." And with that they continued on. Alice felt her cheeks flushing madly – just from the embarrassment, nothing else she concluded, but she knew that was a lie. What was with her today?!

When they reached the steeple Ian threw open the overhead door, emerging outside. What a dramatic entrance, thought Alice, his hair blowing in the wind and all. She could practically hear music surging like in a movie.

They circled around the bell and peered down from the steeple.

"Now what are we looking for?" she asked.

She wasn't answered for just then, Powell's voice came over the walkie-talkie: " _Ian, we've got him. He's leaving the building_."

The three peered down from their perch to see Gates exit the building.

"There he is," said Ian with a grin.

He was alone, Alice noticed right away. Where was Abi?

Her question was answered moments later when she noticed her sister walking with the younger man. "Abi!" she cried.

"And there's the others," said Ian, noticing them too.

"I've got them," said Shaw, heading back down the stairs while speaking to Viktor over the walkie-talkie.

This alarmed Alice. "Hey, wait – you're not going to hurt them–" But he had already disappeared. Now she turned to Ian, feeling panicked. "You're not going to let them hurt my sister, are you?"

"All we want is the Declaration," he said, not looking at her as he turned towards the steeple stairs.

"Answer me Ian," she cried, stepping ahead of him and blocking his path.

He realized that that was the first time she had called him by name. He liked the way it sounded when spoken in her accent. "No harm will come to your sister, don't worry," he assured her.

"And what about the others?" Sure she didn't know Gates or the younger man, but they had attempted to help her, and Abi was with them.

He sighed. "No, we just need the clues. Now come on."

 _Yay, we're finally learning more about Ian :) hope you guys like what I've come up with for his character - there'll be more character development to come, for Alice too! Thanks so much for reading, bye for now!_


	11. Another Chase

Hello and welcome back! :) Now time for the chase through Philadelphia!

Chapter Ten

Another Chase

With that he hurriedly made his way back down the tower, Alice struggling to keep up. When they exited the hall he broke into a run, she now practically sprinting to keep up.

"Why are we doing this?" she panted. "It's not like we need the Declaration anymore, we got this far without it."

"Yes, but right now it's our biggest bargaining chip next to you."

True. Alright, she saw his point. _Next to me…_ She also realized the truth in this. After all, that's all she was to them, to him. But this still stung a little, especially coming from him.

But still, was this whole chase through the busy streets of Philadelphia really necessary? They were getting so many confused looks from the people they passed, Alice saying 'sorry, sorry!" to them over and over again.

Ian was talking to Shaw thought a walkie-talkie. Then he stopped briefly, so suddenly she almost crashed into him, and turned around and began running in the direction they had just come from. Alice groaned. _Just make up your mind!_

And suddenly, Ian was gone. Alice had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't seen where he'd gone and followed. She searched frantically for a flash of his blue suit and blond hair amongst the crowd. Nothing.

Alice paused to catch her breath and scan the crowd. Then she took off running again, that uneasy feeling of being lost settling in her stomach. She had no idea where she was and was helplessly running searching for any sign of anything that was familiar.

There was a busy intersection up ahead. Her heart leapt when she noticed Abi, followed by the younger man, sprint down the other side of the street, she with something in her hand. While he fell behind she kept going, only to crash into a cyclist and drop whatever it was she was holding, a case of some sort it looked like. Wait, it was long and cylindrical… That wasn't…

While Abi crashed to the ground the case rolled out into the street. She saw Abi leap to her feet and sprint after it – right out into the oncoming traffic…

"ABI!" screamed Alice, charging towards her.

She didn't get very far before someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back – Ian. They had taken different routes but both ended up in the same place. It was only then that she realized she too, had been about to charge out into the road.

Just as she thought she might witness her sister's death, the younger man dove in and pulled Abi out of the way just in time. Alice gave a huge sigh of relief, though her heart was still racing.

When the light changed and the traffic stopped for a moment, Ian took the opportunity to walk out and retrieve the case. He unscrewed the lid and peeked inside, then shut it again, looking satisfied.

Abi looked Alice's way and the sister's met eyes from across the street. Their partial-reunion was ended moments later when Viktor and Shaw ran up behind Abi and the man and they took off in the other direction, Abi looking very torn at having to leave her sister.

"Leave them!" Ian ordered his friends. "Let them go."

Alice made to run after them, but was held back by the three men. She struggled, but it was no use.

Ian was grinning widely. "We've got it."

* * *

"You said you weren't going anywhere," Ian said.

"I didn't!" she insisted. " _You_ took off without me – again!" _Are you trying to lose me?_ She pointed accusingly at him. Then she scoffed and crossed her arms. "So much for your second-biggest bargaining chip," she muttered. He looked at her, seeing that she was hurt by this.

Ian sighed. "Promise me you won't go running off again."

She wasn't making any promises. "I really don't see why you don't just let me go," she grumbled as she was ushered back into the car. "You've got the Declaration, you don't need me anymore."

"She's right," said Shaw, giving her a glance through narrowed eyes though the rear-view mirror. He really didn't like her.

"She stays," Ian said firmly.

It was then that a crazy thought struck Alice – Ian didn't need her there, but did he _want_ her there? She almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the mere thought of it, but something in Ian's expression made her wonder. Why else would he be so insistent on her staying? Except for the obvious, that he didn't want her going to the police.

And although she hated to admit it, she was now too curious to try and escape, curious about the treasure and now about him and his situation.

She was squished into the middle again, again between Phil and Powell. "Why do I always have to be squished in the middle?" she muttered.

"You're the smallest," Phil reasoned. "If we were to sit there we'd bump our heads on the ceiling."

"Hmm, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing," she grumbled, slouching in her seat. Ian obviously heard this because he gave a chuckle from the passenger seat.

They drove in silence for a little while before the silence was broken by the ring of a cellphone. Ian withdrew the ringing phone from his pocket and answered.

"Hello," he said calmly.

There came a muffled female voice yelling from the other end, unmistakably Abi's. Alice tried to stifle a laugh at this, especially when Ian had to hold the phone away from his ear because of her yelling.

"Don't worry, you can calm down Doctor Chase, your sister is right here, safe and sound." He smiled at Alice sitting behind him. "Very well," he said, before passing the phone to her. She took it an immediately held it to her ear. "Abi?!"

" _Alice!_ " cried Abi, so loud Alice almost had to hold the phone away from her ear too. " _Oh thank goodness! Are you alright? Are you hurt?"_

"No, no I'm fine," Alice assured her.

There was a pause. " _You're sure? They're not making you say that?"_

"No, really I'm fine. A little squished here in the back of the car, but other than that good."

On the other end, Abi sighed heavily, not sounding fully convinced. _"Ben was taken by the FBI, we need to help him escape from custody,"_ she hurriedly explained. _"Will you please put Ian back on the phone?"_

Alice did as told and handed the phone back to Ian who held it up to his ear again. "Yes?" He listened, nodding. "Very well, I'll call the FBI tomorrow. Yes, see you there. Goodbye Doctor Chase." He hung up. "Shaw," he said, turning to his friend in the driver's seat. "We need to go to New York."

"New York!" cried Alice. Well, she was certainly getting around. Abi had said that maybe they would take a weekend trip somewhere during her visit, but here she was, on a treasure hunt with her abductors driving all over the country – or so it felt.

"Why?" demanded Shaw.

"Seems that Gates has gotten himself arrested by the FBI, and Doctor Chase and Riley need our help to free him."

"Why are we helping them?" questioned Shaw.

A smirk crawled up Ian's lips. "Because they promised us the treasure."

 _Ooooo! Haha hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! Next stop, New York!_


	12. Next Stop: New York

Hello! Again, sorry for the delay! Here's the next chapter!

Chapter Eleven

Next Stop: New York

Silence filled the car. "They did?" cried Powell.

"Yes," Ian confirmed. "In exchange for the Declaration, the pipe, and Doctor Chase here." He nodded to Alice.

"So I really am just a bargaining chip for you," she mumbled. That stung. And why, why did that realization hurt so much? Had she really let herself believe that she meant something, anything at all to Ian? No, she was just a burden dropped on them by mistake, who was in the way and who they had to drag around.

Ian looked at her, again recognizing the hurt in her voice. "We're going to meet them in a couple of days," he continued.

"Ian, we don't have a couple of days time," cried Shaw.

"If we get to New York tonight then we can make a plan tomorrow for the following day."

Shaw heaved a heavy sigh, but started driving.

They drove for about an hour before stopping to get something to eat. While they were stopped Ian and Powell got out of their respective seats and traded places, so Powell was in the passenger seat and Ian sat next to Alice. This surprised her.

"Have you ever been to New York before?" he asked her.

"No," she answered, focus on her book. She could feel his eyes on her.

Traffic was busy, so it took a little longer to get to New York. Alice, still exhausted from everything, found herself dozing off. At one point she even found her head resting on Ian's shoulder. She pulled away, cheeks flaming, unsure if she should apologize or not.

When they arrived at their destination they found a cheaper hotel with adjoining rooms and they all went to bed early so that they could get an early start the next morning.

* * *

Alice stared out their hotel room window. "Are we seriously going to sit in a hotel room all day when we're in New York?" she said. It was the next morning and the guys were organizing a plan to get Gates out of FBI custody.

"We're working," grumbled Shaw. "Now quiet, stop distracting us."

She crossed her arms and paced across the room a few times. "I mean, I could go, it's not like I'm of any help here anyway."

"Right, we're not going to fall for that," said Shaw.

"Couldn't I just go for a few hours?" she pressed. "It's not like I'm going to run away. I have no way of communication, no money, and I've never been to New York before. I'd be as good as lost."

"I could take her out for a bit," suggested Phil. "I mean I grew up here, so I could show her around, keep an eye on her. You guys can finish finalizing the plan and update us when we get back." They looked expectantly at Ian waiting for him to answer.

"I don't see why not," he finally said. Alice almost cheered. Freedom! Kind of.

"Bloody Hell," mumbled Shaw. Alice was getting really fed up with him.

Luckily Phil motioned for her to follow him and he led her out of the hotel and into the busy streets of NYC.

"Times Square is just this way," he said. "We'll go there first."

From there they took the subway over to Central Park. She was quite sure some of the commuters thought they were a couple.

"Thanks for doing this," she said as they wandered through the beautiful park.

"Yeah."

"It's much better than being cooped up in the room all day watching helplessly as you guys ready a plan, and having Shaw glare at me the whole time. He was probably glad to say the least to see me leave."

He chuckled. "Don't mind Shaw."

"So what's the deal?" she finally asked. "How'd you all get caught up in the treasure hunting business?"

He shrugged. "It's different for all of us. Mostly because our skills were required, so we took the job."

"And why do you want to find it?"

He sighed. "Again, for all of us it's different. For Powell it's the riches we were promised, for Viktor its security – he knows they won't come after him if he helps find it. Shaw and Ian have worked together for a long time, he was pretty close to Ian and his sister before. He doesn't want to see Ian hurt, so he wants to find this treasure just as much as Ian does." Then he shrugged again. "And for me, again my skills were required so I took the job, but I'm hoping this treasure's all it's said to be."

"Me too," she agreed. Then she asked, "what do you mean 'come after him'? Who?" She sensed there was still a lot he wasn't telling her. When he didn't answer she tried again. "Phil, are you being threatened?" Again, silence. "You are, aren't you?"

He sighed. "Our employer. Always after riches. When he heard of the treasure he didn't waste any time putting together a team to go find it for him. And this has already taken longer than we expected, so he's not happy about that."

"So you're not after it yourselves?"

"No."

She nodded, beginning to piece it all together. "Ian seems very stressed about it. But he's determined, I'll give him that."

"Yeah, the boss says he'll threaten Ian's niece if it comes down to it.

She stopped walking, shocked.

"Yeah, I know," Phil said solemnly. "Ian would do anything to keep her safe."

"Even steal a national document," she concluded. It all made sense now, the pieces of the puzzle finally fitting together. "Well then I want to help you. I guess I don't really have much choice but…"

There was a pause before he said, "don't tell him I said this, but Ian's taken a liking to you."

At this, she felt the colour rise in her cheeks. "What?"

But before he could answer his phone beeped, saving him from continuing. "That was Shaw, they've finished with the plan and want us back at the hotel."

He led them back to the hotel, Alice thankful that he knew where he was going, for she was lost. When they reached the hotel she noticed Ian using a payphone across the street.

"You go, I'll wait for Ian," she told Phil. He agreed and headed back to the room while she crossed the street.

She caught most of his side of the conversation: "Hello Ben, how are you? Oh I'm sorry to hear that. I want you to meet me on the flight deck of the _USS Intrepid_ , do you know where that is? Yes, meet me there tomorrow morning. And bring the glasses you found at Independence Hall. Yes I know about the glasses. We can take a look at the Declaration and then you can be on your way. I told you from the start I only wanted to borrow it. You can have it, and the glasses, and I'll even throw in the pipe from the Charlotte, and Doctor Chase." He paused. "And tell the FBI agents listening in on this call that if they want the Declaration back and not just a box of confetti, you'll come alone." And with that he hung up.

Alice stared at him. "You're not really going to destroy it are you?" she hissed.

He appeared to jump a little, noticing her for the first time. He turned to her. "They needed to know how serious this is." He looked away.

There was a pause before she said, "Phil told me about the reason for this hunt, your employer."

Now he looked at her. "He really shouldn't have told you that."

"No, I know, but I'd begun to wonder, I kind of figured it out. It makes sense, you being as good to me as you have been, because you're not doing this willingly. And your niece – Ian I'm so sorry." He gave a small nod. "I want to help you."

"I appreciate your want to help but I think it's best if you stay out of this. We've got enough people already tangled in this mess. The more people there are involved the easier it is for him to find out that I betrayed him, especially the FBI."

"But isn't that what you want, for the FBI to be involved? They can help you catch him."

"He's a criminal, Doctor Chase, and a skilled one at that. He knows how to hide. He also has unlimited resources and eyes and ears everywhere." He glanced around them as if suspecting some random passerby would be listening in on them. He was obviously very tense.

"That being said, we cannot afford to lose any more time."

 _There, now we have the whole story behind Ian's scheme! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!_


	13. Tensions

Hello, I'm back! Again, sorry for the delay!

Chapter Twelve

Tensions

Back in the hotel room the others filled Alice and Phil in on their plan.

"And what will I do?" she asked after they had gone through the whole plan and hadn't mentioned a job for her.

"You'll wait in the car," answered Shaw without looking at her.

"Hey, that's not fair!" she cried. "I want to help too."

"We don't need your help–"

"Oh I think you do, you just don't want to admit it. You just don't want my help, Shaw. But I want to help. This is someone's life we're talking about, and a child's at that."

There was silence until Shaw turned to Ian. "You told her?" Ian looked to Phil. "Phil?" cried Shaw.

"Hey don't blame him, I asked him to tell me. Besides, I'd already begun to figure it out. I'm smarter than you think. There has to be something I can do. Sitting in the car while you all help makes me feel useless."

"Exactly," snapped Shaw.

"Shaw!" cried Ian.

But Shaw wasn't finished. "That's all you've been on this whole trip, unhelpful, useless-"

She'd had enough. Before anyone could stop her she drew her arm back and then punched him right in the jaw. There were gasps from the others followed by them trying to stifle laughter.

Shaw cursed, holding his jaw. He would surely have a nice bruise. He looked to any of the others for support but they were all either chuckling or at least smiling.

With that, she stormed out of the room and onto the balcony, slamming the door closed behind her and going to lean against the railing.

Evening had begun to fall, descending over the busy city, one that never slept.

After a few minutes of standing there she heard the balcony door slide open behind her, but she didn't turn around.

"So you've got a good scream and a good punch." Ian joined her by the railing.

She smiled a little. "Just be glad it wasn't you who I punched, I have good reason to, all of you."

"Point taken."

They stood in silence for a moment, she closing her eyes and concentrating on the gentle breeze and traffic noise. "It's beautiful," she said, staring out at the nighttime skyline.

"It is. I've always liked it here." There was a pause, then he said, "so, tell me about yourself."

She shrugged. "There's not much to tell. I live in Berlin, I work as a museum curator."

"Do you live alone?"

"Yes. You're lucky, you don't have an angry boyfriend or husband who will come after you," she joked, poking him in the arm. "Just an angry sister – which is probably worse." Both chuckled.

"But a charming young woman like you must have all the men after her."

To this, she scoffed and looked down. "Very funny."

"I'm serious."

She rolled her eyes. "As of last year, I was engaged."

"Oh?" It was hard to miss the surprise in his voice.

"Yeah. His name was Max, we met in university, so we'd known each other for a few years. Our families are friends. But then it started to feel like we were rushing things, that it was all happening so fast, so I called it off. Guess I just wasn't ready to settle down quite yet. That's part of the reason I wanted to come on this trip, spend some time with my sister, get away from it all."

He was nodding. "Do you still love him?"

He must have sensed something in her tone as she recalled. "I still think about him a lot. His family kind of hates me now."

"I find it hard to believe that anyone could hate you."

A compliment. More than a compliment. She was thankful for the dark – maybe he wouldn't be able to see her flushing cheeks. "Shaw does."

Ian chuckled. "Shaw's very particular, he doesn't like change. And he's cautious. The last woman we had on the team-" She couldn't help but smile knowing that she was 'on the team' in his eyes, even though it was a team of criminals. "-We were together but turns out, she was a gold digger. Shaw saw it, but I didn't, guess I was too 'in love'."

"Gold digger?"

"Someone who dates or marries someone for money," he explained.

"Oh." She nodded. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "Don't be."

He surprised her then by reaching out and brushing the back of his finger against the scrape on the side of her head. His skin was rough, but his touch was gentle. The gentleness of his touch surprised her. "I'm sorry this happened."

"Don't be. I guess it was kind of stupid of me, trying to jump out of the truck while it was still moving," she chuckled. "But I wanted to get out of there."

"And now?" They were standing very close now, their faces hovering just inches apart.

She felt frozen. "I-I don't know." All of the previous tension from Shaw upsetting her had fled her body and had been replaced by another tension – romantic tension, that was the only way she could describe it.

His finger moved from the side of her head to her cheek, brushing it gently.

Their moment was interrupted then and shattered when the balcony door slid open, revealing Shaw. This made them both jump and separate.

"Ian there's a message here from the boss."

The content smile immediately fell from Ian's face and Alice swore she saw him pale, even in the dark. He looked back at her, gave her a weak smile, and followed Shaw back inside the room. She stayed out on the balcony.

Later, as she was on her way to bed, she paused in the hall outside the sitting area of the room. It was dark but she heard low, hushed voices. Shaw's and Ian's.

"We need more time." Ian.

"We don't have any more time!" Shaw. He sighed. "All I'm saying is that you know how he is, eyes and ears everywhere. How is this going to look to him? When he realizes you've taken a liking to her, he could use her as bait."

"I know–"

"She's in danger."

"I _know_ –"

"That's why we should let her go – _you_ should let her go."

Alice felt the colour rise in her cheeks when she realized they were talking about her.

"No, Shaw–" Ian's persistence in letting her stay made her smile a little.

"Ian, I'm your friend," Shaw cut in again. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't get hurt any further."

A pause. "Just leave her out of this." Ian's voice.

The smile on her lips fell. That stung a little, just as him basically calling her a bargaining chip had. But why? Why did that hurt? She didn't mean anything to him, and he didn't mean anything to her. She recalled their moment on the balcony. For a moment there, she thought they might have kissed…

 _Ridiculous_ , she chided herself. Then her thoughts flashed back to her first day in America when Abi had taken her to her office and had told her about Mr. Brown, really Gates's, claim about the invisible treasure map.

'It's very unlikely' she had said, to which Alice had thought, 'but you didn't say impossible'. It was kind of the same here. Perhaps it was ridiculous, the moment she had shared with Ian earlier, what she had felt, but it wasn't impossible.

 _Feeling the romantic tension? ;) Haha! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!_


	14. Putting the Plan into Action

And we're back! For...

Chapter Thirteen

Putting the Plan into Action

The next morning Alice stood with Ian on a busy New York street, just as they had arranged for their plan with Abi. Ian had said she would remain with him throughout their plan, much to Shaw's dismay. At his side was safest here, he'd said, and Alice smiled knowing that he wanted to keep her safe.

It had been arranged for Shaw, Phil, and Powell to help Gates escape from the FBI, not Ian directly. They would first interfere with the FBI's radio system, during which they would explain the plan to Gates: for him to jump off the side of the ship and into the river, where Phil, in scuba-diving gear, would be waiting for him with an oxygen tank.

Standing there beside her, Ian looked tense, no doubt a result of the message and discussion with Shaw the night before. She followed his gaze to the SUV they had been driving around in. He'd sent Viktor off to do something else to help further their plan, but he had returned now with whatever it was.

"You don't think one of your guys would betray you to him, do you?" she asked. They all seemed more than willing to follow Ian to her.

"Not willingly no, but it's possible. It's shocking what one will do if they are threatened in any way." He looked at the ground.

It was all just one big loop, she realized. Ian was being threatened, not directly but still nonetheless, which had led him to going to huge measures to ensure nothing happened against him, and this might persuade one of his companions to do the same, even betray him, their leader and friend who they looked up to.

"He even suspects my betrayal and that will only lead him to threatening her further, so I can't risk it. I have to make it look as though I'm even willing to destroy the Declaration of Independence."

She found herself nodding slowly. There was a pause between them before she asked, "What's her name?"

He stared at her for a moment before cluing in. "Harriet." He smiled.

She reached out and placed a hand on his arm, and gave what she hoped was a supportive squeeze. Then, to her surprise, he reached up and placed his hand over hers on his arm.

Their moment didn't last long and was interrupted then when they noticed Gates.

"Ben." Ian approached him. "Are you alright? A jump like that could kill a man."

"Naw, it was cool," sneered Gates. "You should try it sometime." Then he turned to Alice, appearing more than happy for the excuse to ignore Ian. "Doctor Chase? Hi, nice to finally meet you, your sister's told me all about you. Ben Gates." He extended his hand.

She shook it. "Hello Mr. Gates, nice to finally meet you too. Alice Chase."

Ian chuckled. "The Declaration of Independence, and the meerschaum pipe. All yours," he said to Gates. "And, of course, lovely Doctor Chase here." He placed a hand on the small of her back.

Ben regarded him. "That's it?"

"That's it." Ian nodded. "I knew you'd keep your promise. Ben Gates is always reliable. Now where is it, where's the treasure?"

"It's right here," replied Gates. "The map said 'Heere at the wall,'" 'Heere' spelled with two E's. Wall Street follows the path of an actual wall that the original Dutch settlers built as a defence against the British. The main gate was located at a street called De Heere, also spelled with two E's. Later, De Heere Street was renamed Broadway after the British came so, 'Heere at the wall', Broadway, Wall Street." He pointed to the street signs. Then he grabbed the pipe and Declaration. "Cheerio." He motioned for Alice to follow him.

It suddenly struck her then that this was it, she was actually leaving Ian and crew. For a brief moment she felt slightly disappointed at this, a little sad. She wanted time to say goodbye.

However, Ian took her arm before she could follow Gates. He seemed protective of her. "Just a moment Ben-"

"Ian, if you break our deal the FBI will only be a few minutes behind you. You might get away, you might not."

There was a pause. Alice felt Ian's grip on her arm tighten. "Is that all the map said?" He sounded - desperate.

Gates stared at him completely straight-faced. "Every word."

 _He's lying,_ she thought.

Ian sensed this too. He grinned. "Oh Ben. You know the key to running a convincing bluff? Every once in a while, you've got to be holding all the cards."

He nodded to across the street where the SUV was parked. Then he nodded to Viktor who opened the back door to reveal an older man whose hands were duct-taped together.

Now Gates looked horror-struck. "Dad."

Alice gasped and the disappointment at leaving Ian so suddenly was quickly replaced by anger. So that had been what Ian had sent Viktor to retrieve, a who, Gates's own father to try and persuade him to continue with the plan. How could Ian do this? The poor man. This obviously was very serious.

"Now," continued Ian as Viktor shut the door, once again concealing the man. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

Gates sighed, defeated. "Trinity church. We have to go inside Trinity Church."

"Good, excellent. Well why don't you ask the other Doctor Chase and Riley to join us? I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Oh no, not Abi too. Now even more angered, Alice yanked her arm from Ian's grasp and stalked off after Gates towards the church.

"Hey-" Ian caught her arm again, this time less tightly, and turned her around to face him.

"You said you wouldn't harm the others." She spoke accusingly.

"And we won't," he assured her. "Gates needed the push."

She sighed, her anger simmering down, though just a little. "Why don't you just tell him what this is all about?"

Now he sighed. "The fewer people who know, the better."

 _Thanks so much for reading! :)_


	15. Next Stop: Trinity Church

Hello and welcome back! :)

Chapter Fourteen

Next Stop: Trinity Church, Tunnels, and Tombs

"Let them go Ian," Gates said as they entered the church which was empty except for them, gesturing to his father and Alice.

"When we find the treasure."

"No now. Or you can figure this out on your own. Good luck." Gates threatened to leave.

"Ben," Ian said, sounding surprisingly calm. "I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation."

Just then, the front doors opened to reveal Powell and Phil, Abi and the younger man in tow.

"Abi!" shouted Alice, rushing over.

"Alice!" Abi broke away from their captors and rushed to her sister as well, holding her in a crushing hug.

"Oh I was so worried!" Abi began rambling. "You're not hurt are you? Oh this is all my fault! If I hadn't gone after Ben and you hadn't followed me - but he did steal the Declaration!"

Alice assured her that she was fine and that no, this was in no way her fault. They were then escorted to sit in the church pews, under the watchful eyes of Powell, Phil, Shaw, and Viktor, while Ian and Gates consulted the map.

"Hi, I'm Riley." Alice turned to the younger man who had accompanied Abi and Gates. He wore a zip-up hoodie, glasses, and had a goatee. "It's nice to finally meet you after hearing so much about you."

"Alice." She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too Riley."

A few minutes later the whole group made their way down to the basement. They had to find a 'Parkington Lane' according to the map, and then what lay beneath that.

"Abi, there's something I have to tell you," Alice said in a low, hushed voice, pulling her sister into a corner while the others continued the search. "This isn't what it seems like. Ian's not the bad guy."

Abi stared back at her as though she had just sprouted another head. "What do you mean not the bad guy? Did he brainwash you or something? Is he making you say this?"

"No, no," Alice cried, waving her arms in front of herself for emphasis. "No he doesn't even know I'm telling you this. Ian is being threatened - well not him directly, but his niece-"

"His niece?" interjected Abi. "Ian has a niece?"

"Yes, his sister's daughter. He and his sister were very close but she died and left her young daughter in his care-"

"Smart move," scoffed Abi.

"But she's being threatened by the man Ian is working for - or used to work for - that's why he has to find the treasure. Don't you see, he's not doing any of this for himself - he doesn't even care about the treasure, he just wants to save his niece."

Abi stood there, staring at her, absorbing this. Then she shook her head. "How do you know he's telling the truth? He could have just made all that up as an excuse to cover for himself."

"No, he wouldn't lie about this. Her name is Harriet."

"He could have just picked a name out of the sky-" Abi still didn't believe her. To be honest, Alice didn't blame her, especially from her side of the story. Here she was trying to defend the man Abi had seen kidnap her and had now kidnapped Abi herself.

"But he didn't, his face completely changed when he told me about her, lit up. You should have seen it Abi. Please, I trust him. I can see how tense he is, you can't miss it. And if he really was the bad guy do you really think he would have treated me as good as he has? And if he made up a story like that just to cover his greed I will personally hand him over to the FBI myself."

Abi sighed, still looking unsure.

They were interrupted then as the group began moving again, Ian and Gates in the lead, following Riley's call of "I found it - him! It's a him!"

"Ben!" called Ian. They all crowded around a tombstone inlaid in the wall. Parkington Lane was the name it bared.

"It's a name," remarked Abi.

"Parkington Lane," Gates read in agreement. Then he jumped back and yelled 'hey!' as, with Ian's order, Viktor came crashing in - literally. He began smashing away the tombstone with a wrench.

With the tombstone a crumbled mess now at their feet, Ian, Powell, Shaw, and Gates all lifted the coffin free of its tomb. Moments later the bottom of the coffin gave out and the skeleton of Parkington Lane fell to the ground at their feet. There were gasps and cries of 'oh!'

"Careful no one steps in him," Powell said.

They set the coffin on the ground and then everyone peered around each other to see what lay inside: a tunnel. The tomb stretched on to become a tunnel leading to the unknown.

"So, who wants to go inside the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?" spoke up Riley.

"Right," said Ian, ignoring Riley and sounding excited. "Let's go then."

One by one they began climbing into the tomb-tunnel. Alice couldn't help but feel bad that they had disturbed poor Mr. Lane, and whispered 'sorry' as she went by. She had been apologising a lot lately.

"Hey-" Alice felt a gentle hand take her arm once she was inside the tunnel, which widened enough for them to stand. She turned to face Ian who stared down at her. "I'm sorry you got caught up in all this."

She smiled up at him. "Don't be."

"We couldn't have done any of this without your help."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm not sure about that-"

"It's true," he assured her. She still wasn't quite sure how, but she smiled and accepted his gratitude.

Torches lined the walls, and soon they were ablaze with the help of Ian who had a lighter. Luckily, otherwise it would be quite dark. Alice paused to wait for Abi to enter the tunnel and just caught a kiss between her sister and Gates. The now blushing Abi turned to her.

"Oooo..." Alice gave her sister a grin. Abi elbowed her in response.

The tunnel took them to a set of stairs, leading down to a wooden platform.

 _I have a bad feeling about this_ , Alice thought as she took her first step out onto the crumbling wooden platform. She almost expected it to break as soon as she set foot on it. She gingerly continued on, walking on her tip-toes.

The rickety platform led them to a vast wooden structure leading down, down, down. Still the unknown. Great, more old wood.

"Wow," breathed Gates during their pause to admire the craftsmanship. "Look at the pulley systems, and the elevators. Amazing."

"Right." Ian was growing impatient. They were so close. "Let's go, what are we waiting for?"

"Oh I'm not going out on that," Mr. Gates said with a firm shake of his head, pretty much echoing Alice's very thoughts. "Two-hundred years of termite damage and rot." Alice didn't blame him. As cool as this wooden structure was, it also just looked like a big accident waiting to happen.

"Dad, do what he says," ordered Gates pleadingly.

Reluctantly, his father obeyed and slowly began the decent down the wooden stairs. Everyone froze and drew in a sharp breath when one of the boards broke beneath his foot and he stumbled back.

"Careful," said Ian.

Mr. Gates regained his footing. "Watch your step," he called to the rest of the group.

Alice's knuckles were white as she gripped the railing. _Don't look down, don't look down_. She kept sneezing due to the heavy layer of dust. She stayed close to Abi.

"We're right under the Trinity graveyard," Mr. Gates explained, trying to lessen some of the tension. "That's probably why no one ever found this place."

Smart on the builder's part, Alice thought.

Everyone froze when, just moments later, a great rumbling noise caused the whole chamber to tremble. For a split second, visions of a great beast living within the deep dark depths of the pit below them filled Alice's thoughts. Bits of rock and debris fell from above.

"Subway," Ian realized aloud. Gates nodded in agreement.

The subway? Wow, they really must be very far underground if the subway tunnels were above them.

The silence following the interruption of the subway was shattered suddenly then when there was a great _crack!_ followed by Shaw's screams as he fell through the boards and down into the pit below.

"Oh my God - Shaw!" yelled Ian as he watched his friend fall to his death. The devastation on his face pained Alice.

Soon Shaw's body had disappeared and his screams faded, although they lingered echoing through the pit and in the ears of those remaining.

Alice and Abi clung to each other, petrified. The stunned silence didn't last long before it was broken again, this time as the whole platform they were on began to rapidly collapse. The platform split in two from the crack Shaw's fall had made. The side that she, Abi, Gates, and Riley had been standing on fell from one end, the other dangling. Riley managed to leap over to a more sturdy section. Alice gripped the railing and stumbled away just as the platform broke further, Gates sliding down.

"Ben - hold on!" cried Abi, clasping his wrist tightly.

During all the commotion, Powell, Viktor, and Phil managed to leap onto an elevator suspended by ropes from above, luckily before the platform they were on began to crumble too. Ian made them go first, then Mr. Gates. He turned to see Alice trapped between both collapsing sections. She only had a small piece of board to stand on, though she barely dared to put any weight on it in fear of it breaking too. She clung to the railing with both hands, hanging there, dangling above the pit that threatened to swallow her whole.

"Alice!" he called. "You first!"

 _Alice_. That was the first time he had called her by name. She liked the way it sounded when he spoke it. She didn't have time to reflect on this however, and she let out a cry as the platform beneath him, that she was about to step on, finally gave way completely, tilting sharply, leaving him no choice but to jump onto the already crowded elevator. Luckily it was quite wide. He landed on his knees, his friends helping him to his feet.

"Alice!" screamed Abi, her voice echoing through the pit. "Hang on!" Even though she spoke in a shout, her voice echoing off the cavern walls, Alice could barely hear her over the thundering of her own heartbeat.

"Alice!" called Ian. "Jump, I'll catch you." He held out his arms, ready to do just that.

"Ali no!" countered Abi. She sounded just as panicked as Alice felt. "Hang on, I-I'll come to you!"

She tried to find a safe path to her sister, but Gates held her back. "Abigail no, it's too dangerous!"

Same with Ian. No one could get to her, and she couldn't get to anyone. The jump to the elevator from where she was standing was long, she'd never make it. And besides, she had nowhere to start her jump from, now that the platform had tipped over.

Her arms were getting sore, and were starting to shake. She squeezed her eyes shut to try and block it all out.

"I-I can't hold on!" she cried, her voice breaking.

"Alice!" called Ian. "There's a board just a few inches beneath your feet. Do you think you can reach it?"

Alice couldn't focus. All she could see was Shaw's fall, his plunge to his death down in the deep, dark pit below, hear his screams echoing endlessly through the cavern, and wondering if she would suffer the same fate. Perhaps she hadn't been particularly fond of Shaw, and he of her, but he shouldn't have suffered that fate.

Slowly she began to stretch out her legs, as far as she could, pointing her toes, straining to reach the board. She felt nothing.

Forcing her eyes open she looked down and instantly regretted it as this action made her stomach drop. She saw the board, it wasn't very far beneath her. _Verdammt_ , if only she was a little bit taller...

"Ah - I can't reach it!" she cried.

"Just a little further," Ian encouraged. "You can do it."

"Alice!" cried Abi, but there was really nothing she could do except watch helplessly as her sister clung to the railing for dear life.

Slowly, Alice lowered herself a little further, straining to reach the board. Her arms were numb now, and shaking violently.

Finally, her foot touched down, and she tried to lower herself fully as slowly and gently as possible - only a single slab of wood supported her now.

"Yes Alice, you did it!" cheered Ian. "Now jump!"

Barely thinking, she launched herself forward with all her might.

 _And cliffhanger! Haha hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! :) This story is almost at its end..._


	16. Next Stop: A Dead End? The Truth?

Hello welcome back! :) Picking up right where we left off!

Chapter Fifteen

Next Stop: A Dead End? The Truth?

The next thing she knew, she felt herself flying through the air; she heard Abi scream. Then her feet struck the wooden floor of the elevator. She slammed into Ian's chest, causing him to stumble back into the side of the elevator. She clung to him, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Shh," he said soothingly, holding her. "It's alright, I've got you." His voice was a little shaky. Understandable though, for he had just watched his friend plunge to his death and had almost died himself. Alice found a part of herself hoping some of that panic had been for her too.

She whimpered, and shook violently, but she did feel safe, there in his arms.

"Ian," Gates called from above them on the other elevator. "We can't go down this way. We'll come back, and we'll have safety gear and an exploration crew."

Alice liked that idea much better, but judging by Ian's determination so far, she had a strong feeling that he wouldn't go for it.

She was right. "No," he said firmly.

"You saw what happened to Shaw."

There was a moment's pause. "He's right Ian," Phil said. "We could be next-"

"Oh shut up!" Ian snapped. Then he turned back to Gates. "Get. On. The. Elevator." Alice, who was still holding onto him, could feel the tension in his body.

Gates gave in and the three stepped onto the elevator. Using the pulley system he slowly began lowering them down. When they were level with the others, they stepped off onto the ledge. At first, no one said anything.

"Get on," Ian ordered them.

"Ian, it's not worth it," sighed Gates.

"Do you really think that any of your lives are more valuable to me than Shaw's?" Ian demanded.

Gates sighed. "Ian, I understand-"

"No Ben, no you don't understand," Ian snapped, cutting him off. "You have no idea what's at stake here."

"I know what's at stake here for us if we continue. It's not safe."

Ian remained firm. "We go on."

"Ian," Alice said gently, her hand on his arm. There was silence.

"We go on," Ian repeated, his voice breaking a little. "We have to."

Reluctantly, Gates obeyed. He, Abi, and Riley all squeezed onto the elevator - Alice hoped it wouldn't break with all of them on it - and Powell slowly lowered them down further.

"Are you alright?" whispered Abi. Alice nodded.

Pretty soon the rope began to run out and left them before a platform leading into what appeared to be another tunnel.

"This is where it leads," announced Gates as they all stepped off. He moved aside some cobwebs from the entryway, leading to-

Nothing. Nothing, just an empty, circular room.

"Well?" pressed Ian, frustration evident in his voice.

"This is it?" cried Riley in disbelief. "We came all this way for a dead end?!"

Oh no, thought Alice. No, they couldn't have. Not after everything.

Gates looked stressed. "Yes."

Ian scoffed and turned away.

"But there's gotta be something more," Riley cried. "Another clue or-"

"No there are no more clues!" Gates suddenly yelled. "That's it, okay, the end of the road. The treasure's gone."

 _No_ , _it can't be. Not now_.

"You're not playing games with me, are you Ben?" questioned Ian. "You'd better not be." He eyed the other man. "You know where it is."

"No," said Gates firmly.

Ian sighed. "Okay, go," he said to Powell, Phil, and Viktor. It was only when he let go did Alice realize she had still been holding Ian's hand from when he had caught her.

Powell caught on first and made for the elevator, Viktor following when he realized too. Phil went last, looking reluctant, Ian hurrying him along.

"Hey, wait-" The others had begun to catch on to what this meant too. Alice could hardly believe it - Ian was going to leave them down there.

"We'll be trapped!" cried Riley.

"You can't just leave us here!" yelled Abi.

"Yes, I can," Ian said, now standing on the elevator. "Unless Ben tells me the next clue."

"There is no other clue!" cried Gates.

"Ian, listen," began Riley frantically. "Why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together-" He was abruptly cut off when Ian suddenly took Powell's gun and pointed it right at him. Alice yelped.

"Don't speak again," Ian ordered. This silenced Riley.

Now Ian turned back to Gates, turning his gun on him. "The clue Ben." Then he added, "I don't want to do this, but if you leave me no choice-"

Gates remained silent. Ian placed his finger on the trigger.

"No!" Alice's cry echoed off the walls. She stepped in front of Gates, right in the line of the gun.

"Alice!" cried Abi, trying to pull her sister back.

Now seeing where his gun was pointed, Ian immediately lowered it.

"Please," Alice said, a near whisper, her voice shaking. "Don't do this. Ian please."

Ian looked down, looking extremely conflicted.

"This guy, whoever he is, is using you, trying to make you the bad guy. Don't let him win Ian," Alice said gently, taking a step towards him. Then she nodded to Gates. "Just tell him."

"Tell me what?" demanded Gates.

Now Ian looked close to tears. "If we don't find it, she'll die."

"No one else is going to die," she assured him, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt at the moment.

"Tell me what?" Gates repeated.

"What this is all about," answered Alice. She looked to Ian. "If you don't tell him, I will." When he didn't say anything, she continued. "Ian's being threatened by the man he's working for, or used to work for. He has to find the treasure or they'll threaten his niece, Harriet. She's only nine years old." Silence as everyone took in her words. "And it's not just Ian, but Phil, Powell, and Viktor too." The three men nodded but didn't say anything, Ian still looking close to tears.

Still silence. Then Abi spoke. "It's true, Alice told me the whole story. I didn't believe her at first, but-" She nodded in affirmation.

Alice smiled at her sister.

"So he used us to try and find the treasure," reasoned Riley.

"In order to save his niece," Gates concluded. "It makes sense," he then said. "Back on the _Charlotte_ , when you didn't hesitate to decide to steal the Declaration, because it was the next step and had to be done."

Ian appeared to choke back tears. "If he doesn't get the treasure soon, he'll kill her."

"So it was never about the treasure," Ben devised.

"I don't give a damn about the bloody treasure." Ian put away the gun. "But we have to find it."

Gates gave a slow nod. "Then let's find it, and finish this. There's still a lot of explaining to be done, but it can wait, for now."

It were as if the tension was a balloon that had just been popped and was now deflating. Alice breathed a sigh of relief. While Gates and his father went back to scouting out the room for some clue, she turned back to Ian. "It's alright, we'll figure this out," she assured him, just as Shaw had before.

Ian still looked very tense, but he managed to nod. "Thank you," he whispered. She nodded back and then went to conducting her own investigation of the room. As she did, Abi approached her. "I hope you're right about this, about him," she hissed.

Alice nodded. "Trust me."

"I trust _you_ ," Abi said. "But not him."

"Then trust my word about him," Alice pleaded.

Suddenly, another rumble trembled through the chamber, signalling the passing of another subway train overhead. This sudden movement shifted things, and everyone watched in horror as the delicate ropes from the pulley system snapped and the elevator plunged into the darkness below.

"Well, there goes our way back up," said Phil, the first to break the silence after the loss of the elevator. "Now what are we going to do?"

"We're gonna die," cried Riley.

"No one's going to die, Riley," Gates insisted. "And I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"But how, we're trapped down here." No one answered; they were all thinking the same.

"It doesn't make any sense," Gates was now saying. "The first thing the builders would have done after getting down here would have been to cut a secondary shaft for air, and in case of cave-ins." He continued to look around, wiping away some cobwebs which were covering a line of metal carvings inlaid on the wall.

"Ian, come take a look at this," he said suddenly. Ian joined him over by the wall where Gates pointed to a cut-out in the metal. "Look familiar?"

Ian stared at it for a moment before looking at Gates. "The meerschaum pipe."

Gates nodded and withdrew said pipe from his pocket. He took it apart, separating the stem from the rest of the pipe, and inserting it into the cut-out in the wall like a key. "Could it really be that simple?"

Alice held her breath along with everyone else as he turned the pipe-key. There was a rumble, followed by the slab of stone in the wall directly in front of them swinging open like a door.

Everyone stood still and silent. No one knew what might lie beyond that door, and they all waited with anticipation. Slowly, one-by-one, everyone passed through the door.

Alice braced herself for what she may find on the other side, though the gasps of those ahead of her gave her confidence. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward into the room.

Holding back, however, meant that she was now stuck behind a line of awestruck people ahead of her. Again, if only she were a little taller. Cursing her height again she pushed past them, only to stop and stare herself.

A most astonishing sight met her eyes.

 _And another cliffhanger! ;) haha I had to! Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed! And as you may have noticed I cut out the part where they think they've found the treasure room before finding the actual treasure room - I didn't want to put Ian through any more disappointment ;)_


	17. All It Was Said to Be

Hello! Here's the treasure chapter! :)

Chapter Sixteen

All It Was Said to Be

Her jaw dropped in amazement. There, directly before her, surrounding her, was a treasure, a vast and great treasure, bathed in torchlight.

" _Wunderbar_ ," she whispered when finally she overcame her speechlessness.

In awe, everyone began to slowly move about the room to see all it contained. The room seemed endless, filled to the brim with a wide variety of antiquities.

"Alice, come see this." Abi called her over. "Scrolls from the library at Alexandria." Alice knelt down to join her sister looking at a low shelf filled with dusty, delicate scrolls. The sisters shared an excited glance.

"Could this really be possible?" Abi breathed, taking a closer look at the scrolls.

While her sister continued to excitedly examine the scrolls, Alice looked at Ian, wanting to see his reaction. Even his jaw was dropped. They met eyes and shared a smile.

"He cares about you," Abi said softly. "I can tell."

Alice smiled a little. "Turns out, he wasn't the bad guy after all. Just desperate to save someone he loves, and willing to do anything it takes to do so." She found it heroic.

She then joined Phil who was standing in the centre of the room, staring around in awe. "It's all it was said to be."

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod. "Yeah, it is."

* * *

Ian looked around in awe, taking in everything. They'd found it, they'd actually found it, the Templar Treasure, the treasure of all treasures, and it certainly was that.

He'd said before that he didn't give a damn about the treasure, that he didn't care, and while that was still true he had to admit that it was very fascinating. He could see why those who hid it went to such great lengths to do so.

However, he found himself focusing less and less on the treasure, and more on something else – some _one_ else to be exact. The look on her face as she examined an ancient statue was adorable, priceless. Despite all they had gone through, all they had endured to get here, she now had the biggest smile on her face.

He thought of catching her when she had jumped, and how much he liked holding her in his arms, how right it felt. It had been a long time since he had felt this way about someone, and even then, there was something more he felt for her than anyone else he had ever had romantic feelings before.

There, standing amongst a vast treasure, he had found something far better.

* * *

As it turned out, Gates was right and there was a secondary shaft at the far end of the treasure room, which led them all the way right back into the basement of the church. Here, Gates called the FBI. Ian reluctantly agreed to this.

"Hey, I know you didn't want to get them involved, but I think its best," Alice told him.

He nodded. "Yes, you're probably right.

When the FBI arrived, Gates discussed the finding of the treasure with the leading agent, Agent Sadusky. The others stood or sat off to the side.

"Someone's gotta go to prison Ben," Agent Sadusky said after Gates had told him the whole story.

Gates looked back at them, directly at Ian. Alice felt him stiffen beside her. She stiffened too – no, Gates wouldn't turn Ian over to the FBI like that, would he, now that he knew the full story?

Gates then turned back to Sadusky. "Why don't you ask Ian? He can tell you who and what we're dealing with."

Alice exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. Ian did as well.

Now Sadusky turned to Ian. "Weren't you the one who did the abducting, breaking in, and threats and all that?"

"Unwillingly," Alice piped up. "He was forced to do it."

Sadusky regarded them. Then he finally said, "Mr. Howe, I'd like you and your buddies to come down to the station to answer a few questions."

Ian nodded and stepped forward. Alice only realized then that she had been gripping his arm. She released him. "G-good luck."

He turned back to her and smiled. "Thank you."

"I-I'm so sorry-"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry."

"I hope all works out for you." With one last smile, she moved to turn away. She felt him take her arm.

"Hey–" She turned back to him. "Come here-" And with that his arm went around her waist and he drew her close to him. The whole group was shocked into stunned silence then when he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers tenderly. As always, he was gentle, and this gentility surprised her. She wondered if it would ever stop doing so.

The kiss was gentle yet tender and left her quite breathless and flushed. And maybe what surprised her more was that she found herself just starting to kiss back before they both pulled away…

When they did, her head was spinning. He smiled down at her. "Thank you, Alice." And with that, he was gone.

 _OooooOOoooOOoooo! Haha! Like me, some of you are probably like 'finally!' ;) Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! Just one more chapter!_


	18. Goodbye?

Hello! Here's the last chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Seventeen

Goodbye?

It had been a crazy week to say the least. Between Ian's FBI inquiries and dealing with the discovery of the treasure, Alice barely had time to think. And Ian's kiss... His kiss. He had kissed her. Right in front of everyone. Had that really happened? She recalled kissing Max and although those kisses had been loving and thrilling, they hadn't been so as much as Ian's kiss. That definitely meant something.

But no, this was all happening too quick. She couldn't have fallen in love with Ian in less than a week - could she? She was charmed by him sure, but she had known Max for years and she'd still thought their relationship had progressed too quickly. But maybe it just hadn't been right...

She was in the spare bedroom of Abi's apartment, packing her suitcase. Abi came and stood in the doorway, watching her. "I didn't expect you to be leaving so soon." Her sister had only been here for a couple of weeks, but it felt as if they'd barely seen each other.

"Me neither," said Alice, not looking up from her packing. "But it's been an unexpected week - to say the least." On top of it all she was still exhausted, still recovering from their adventure.

"This is about Ian, isn't it." A statement, not a question. Abi knew.

"Yes."

"Talk to him Ali."

"He's busy right now, I don't want to trouble him with it. Besides, it's complicated-"

"These things always are." Abi watched her sister pack. "I can give you a ride to the airport."

* * *

The next afternoon Alice was all packed and ready to go. No, she wasn't ready. She had come to America to clear her head in the aftermath of her calling off her engagement, and was now returning to Germany only more confused.

She said her goodbyes and just as she said, Abi drove her to the airport.

"Next time, you're coming to Germany," Alice said when the sisters were parting.

Abi laughed. "It wasn't all bad."

"No," agreed Alice. "It was mostly good. Thank you Abi."

"Goodbye Ali. Say hi to everyone back in Germany for me."

"I will." They hugged.

When they parted Alice took her luggage and headed towards the check-in desk. She turned and waved once more to her sister. Abi waved back.

"Alice!" She then turned at the calling of her name to see none other than Ian jogging towards her. "Alice wait!"

"Ian? What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were leaving-" _I heard you were leaving..._ Abi, it had to have been. "Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye?"

"I-I didn't want to trouble you, I know you're busy with Harriet and the FBI and-"

"I can spare a goodbye." He stared down at her. "Is this about the kiss?"

She sighed. "Yes, that, and everything. It's just - whether you meant to or not you still abducted me. This whole situation between us is - well, complicated." She sighed. "I need time to think about this, about us, I need space. I-" She sighed, cutting herself off. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. I know, and I understand. You need time and space and I respect that. I have to go back to England to settle a few things, so you can have that time, and more if you need it." Then he smiled. "You know, you stumbling upon us was the best thing that happened during the whole hunt."

Alice was shocked. "E-even better than the treasure?"

He smiled. "Even better than the treasure."

Now she was dumbfounded. That was the most sweet, most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. He had essentially said she meant more to him than the treasure. He'd said he didn't care about it, but that had been before they found it, but - wow...

They said one last goodbye before Alice headed to check in. She found herself distracted now, unable to forget Ian's words.

This trip had certainly taken an unexpected turn, but a lot of it had been for the better she now realized. As she sat in her seat on the plane, waiting for takeoff, she found herself smiling.

 _And that's the end of 'Chasing Chase' - I hope you enjoyed! Yay another story completed! I am planning a sequel to this story too, so stay tuned! Once again, thank you guys so much! :) Bye!_


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